I know I'm a guest posting monster lately

but hop on over to Something Charming to see a feature on our wedding :)

okthanksbye!

guest posting

Be sure to check out my guest post today over at the lovely miss Kai's blog!

I'm sharing my favorite things about about socal so head on over and check it out and be sure to share your favorites if you have any!

After that unplanned hiatus...

...I'm back!

Well... Not really, were still not home yet

But I am over here at Olivia's blog talking about my typical NYE so go check it out!

I will say this year wasn't much different except hubs and I went to a very nice dinner and I dressed lulu up like this:

she loved it, obviously

I'm over here today

I'm over at Bright Wishes today sharing my advice for any future DIY brides and my advice for the newlywed too!

stop on over and say hi!

greetings from texas

so this is not my picture...it was dark when i saw this

...which by the way was 9 whole hours before i got to san antonio, that's like driving from sacramento to mexico

...except with nothing in between, you know instead of a whole state worth of towns and cities

anywho i'm here, i'm safe and i'm with my husband (well...in the same city as him lol!)

i'm sleeping on a camping pad and have no furniture or cable or internet but i do have a brand spankin new (and totally necessary) gps

i'll post more of my texas discoveries and revelations soon but i have to go home and let lulu out of the crate

oh! and incase i don't make it to a starbucks tomorrow be sure to check out my guest post at michelle's blog!

guest blogger: michelle from life's little indulgences!

my next guest poster is acutally a close personal friend of mine, michelle (yes, in real life haha!)
she is an army wife who is aslo married to her high school sweetheart and she's such a genuinely nice person!

enjoy her adive for military spouses and be sure to check out her page!

oh! and don't you just love this pic from her wedding? i may be biased though :)


I am so honored to be guest blogging here on Amanda's page! What a talented woman she is! 

My husband and I. Our first dance as a married couple.

12.19.2010

The advice I am going to give is only through experience and a lot of these, I wish someone had told me before I started my military adventure. It would have made things MUCH easier. Not all of it is the most upbeat, but it is completely honest. I was given some of the little pieces below when we started our military life as a couple through friends and family with previous military experience and some of the pieces of advice below are ones I have learned all on my own. 

1. Learn military time. There is no escaping it.
2. Never believe anything the military says, unless it's happening.
3. Never take second hand information as the final answer. Always do your own research and contact DOD offices directly.
4. The commissary has the best prices. Always. And they accept coupons.
5. Use EVERY single resource you can find. They are there for a reason.
6. Always, always, always drive the speed limit on post/base. If it says 30 MPH you better drive 30 MPH.
7. Have a close group of friends who are military wives. More than 4 and gossip usually becomes the root of your relationships.
8. Before deployments, ask the hard questions about their funeral wishes. The conversation may be very difficult but if something does happen, at least you'll know what your partner would want.
9. Have copies of everything and as many power of attorneys as you can get your hands on.
10. Take pictures of everything before deployment, those pictures will mean so much when they are gone.
11. The military is your husband's mistress or your wife's secret lover. They will always get more attention.
12. Always ask companies if they offer military discounts. Most cellular companies give 15% off your monthly bill and most sporting good stores do as well.
13. We all know that military pay isn't the most luxurious paycheck so manage your money well and stay within your means. Leaving the military with no dept is a huge success.
14. The best hidden secret about the military is you can fly military planes for free or next to nothing. Hello trip to Hawaii.
15. Even after basic training, write your spouse little love letters. 

I hope you all enjoyed my little list and please, add a comment below if you have some more advice to give that I did not include. The more advice for others, the easier this journey gets. Have a great Monday everyone and enjoy the week. 

I thought my guest blog would feature some advice I have for other military spouses and a little bit of advice towards gearing up for deployments.

My husband and I have been married two weeks shy of six months and are in the beginning weeks of our first deployment. My husband is an infantryman in the Army and is currently deployed to Afghanistan. We are stationed in Fort Carson, CO. You can find my own blog over at Life's Little Indulgences. 

guest blogger: brooke from bright wishes!

so i'm sure you all know that i'm moving to texas this weekend (how could you not? it's all i talk about!)

so anyway i thought it would be fun to have a couple of my fav military spouse/ future spouse bloggers on here to let you all (and me) know a little bit about this military life i'm about to start

first up we have brooke who's fiance is in the navy just like brian :)

enjoy her post and be sure to check out her amazing page!

Hello! I'm Brooke from Bright Wishes and I am SO glad that Amanda asked me to guest post. She's in the middle of moving and starting her new life with her husband as a military wife :) I am a military fiance - soon to be wife and I love mostly everything about it. My fiance has only been in the military for close to a year so I don't have as much experience as other wives. We haven't gone through a deployment and hopefully won't but being part of the military world is a whole new experience. It's wonderful and painful all at the same time. 

Of course the worst part of your significant other being in the military is being away from one another. It's not the same as if you were in a "regular" long distance relationship. You can't just pack up your bags and see them whenever you want especially if you're not married. Most of the time they are away for months or years. Of course when I talk about this not every family is the same so I am only speaking from my experience. In the past year I've seen my fiance for all of approximately 24 days and parts of those spent crying because you don't want to leave or want them to leave. I can't stand when people talk about their husband/girlfriend/fiance/wife being away for a whole week or the weekend. I think they should be thankful that they get to see each other mostly everyday.

The great part about my fiance being in the military is of how proud I am of him. For someone to want to join the military to help others while bettering their own life is just amazing. They go through so much on a daily basis. That moment you see at boot camp graduation when all the soldiers or sailors come marching out and you see him transformed, you get the biggest feeling of pride and a realization that your life is just starting. The benefits are also a good part and also making so many great friends in real life and the blogging world. We all tend to stick together because no one really knows what it's like until you are in that situation.

Thanks Amanda for having me :)

it's june!

i have so many exciting things planned for june!

first off i'll finally get to see my hubby!

then i'm moving to texas so i can see him all the time!

and finally we're celebrating our first anniversary this month!!! gahh! i can't believe we've been married a whole year almost!

i have some exciting things coming on the blog this month too

i'll be taking you on all of these adventures as well as having some guest bloggers for the first time (though i haven't actually asked them yet so we'll see how that works out lol!)

i also have a ton of photography work that i need to edit and put on the photo blog so thay'll be coming too

so stay tuned!